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Special prosecutor to help probe B.C. ethnic outreach scandal

An ethnic outreach scandal that rocked Premier Christy Clark’s government earlier this year roared back into the spotlight Thursday after the RCMP revealed it has secretly been investigating whether government officials broke any laws.
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The ethnic outreach plan showed Liberal officials and government staff planning to collaborate to use government resources to drum up votes in ethnic communities for the B.C. Liberals during the May election.

An ethnic outreach scandal that rocked Premier Christy Clark’s government earlier this year roared back into the spotlight Thursday after the RCMP revealed it has secretly been investigating whether government officials broke any laws.

The government’s independent criminal justice branch announced it had appointed Vancouver lawyer David Butcher as a special prosecutor, to help the RCMP probe the B.C. Liberals’ controversial multicultural ethnic-outreach plan.

The plan, which leaked last spring, showed Liberal officials and government staff planning to collaborate to use government resources to drum up votes for the B.C. Liberals in ethnic communities.

New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix said additional documents he obtained before and after the May 14 provincial election were concerning enough that he sent a confidential letter to police in August.

In response, the RCMP started an investigation that “could include members of government and/or government employees” and might involve Election Act irregularities, according to a statement by the criminal justice branch.

An independent special prosecutor was appointed Aug. 29 to give advice to the RCMP and ultimately decide whether any charges should be approved.

The RCMP asked for its investigation to stay secret “to safeguard the integrity of the investigation in its early stages,” the statement read.

Dix would not describe his information, other than to say it was concerning.

“Those concerns are real and substantial,” he said in an interview.

Dix had also alleged in the legislature that leaked emails showed the Liberals tried to offer a disgruntled former staffer a job because she had information that could have damaged the premier and the party.

The ethnic-outreach scandal plagued Clark’s government during the pre-election spring session of the legislature, because the leaked documents also showed Liberals were planning apologies for historical wrongs, such as the Chinese head tax, to achieve “quick wins” politically.

Clark apologized and the Liberal party returned $70,000 in misspent taxpayer money. Three government officials resigned, including Clark’s deputy chief of staff and multiculturalism minister John Yap. He was re-elected as an MLA in May.

A review by Clark’s deputy minister concluded numerous public officials breached standards of conduct and misused government resources in the plan, to benefit the Liberal party.

The B.C. government will “co-operate fully” with the RCMP investigation, said Ben Chin, the premier’s spokesman, on Thursday.

“Any citizen, including Mr. Dix, is free to file a complaint with the authorities,” Chin said in a statement.

Neither the criminal justice branch, nor the RCMP, would comment on the investigation.

The ethnic-outreach scandal looked as if it had faded away for Clark’s Liberals but was perhaps more serious than voters realized, said veteran political scientist Norman Ruff.

“If anyone thought this was over, they were badly mistaken,” he said. “It looks like the issue got up and started to walk again.”

Despite the controversy, voters returned Clark’s Liberals to government with an even stronger majority on May 14.

“Although it might seem like [Dix] is trying to re-fight an election that he lost, the issues are extremely important and go beyond partisan politics,” Ruff said.

rshaw@timescolonist.com

To read the criminal justice branch statement, click on the link below.